MediaPro, cable operators clash in Kerala

It is learnt that MediaPro Enterprise India has been facing severe issues from a certain group of local cable operators in Kerala. MediaPro is a joint venture between Star Den Media services and Zee Turner that aggregates and distributes Zee, Star, NDTV and Turner bouquet of channels in India.

It is alleged that a group of cable operators are creating unwarranted problems for MediaPro, which has hampered the telecast of channels across the state. These cable operators have not paid their subscription fees for the bouquet of channels distributed by MediaPro for more than a year now. This has forced MediaPro to deactivate all the channels after numerous reminders and notices failed to evoke any response from these operators.

Meanwhile, this group of operators have been spreading rumours amid customers that they would have to pay a very high amount if they want the MediaPro channels. In reality, these operators are catering to millions of households across the state and are paying only a miniscule amount of subscription fee collected per household to MediaPro.

A senior official of MediaPro said, “Few operators are spreading rumours that are misleading the viewers that they will have to pay higher subscription fees if they wish to view our channels, which are absolutely not true. These operators retain a lion’s share of all the subscription fees that they collect from the viewers and do not pay what is rightfully due to us. Despite repeated reminders and meetings to resolve the issue, we have received no response from these operators, which has in turn forced us to take this tough decision of disconnecting the channels.”

“As a company we remain committed to doing our best to protect the interests of the viewers in particular. Once we receive the needed support from these operators, we will be pleased to restore the channels to our customers,” he added.

Kerala comes under the second phase of digitization, the deadline for which is March 31, 2012. It remains to be seen how the State Government, Central Government and the cable operators clear the roadblocks in the way of digitisation in the state.